Garment



M. KAY

GARMENT Filed Nov. 14, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR flwrmq flag km I BY Jail ATTORNEYS M. KAY

GARMENT May 11, 1948.

Filed Nov. 14, l945 3 s t -sheet 2 INVENTOR Murray 176 7 IBYJM/ R/WFM ATTORNEYS M. KAY

GARMENT May 11, 1948;.

Filed Nov. 14, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTQR Murray [fay BY K HTTORNEfS Patented May ll, 1943 UNITED PATENT @FF'IECE GARMENT Murray Kay, New York, N. :Y. Application November V14, 1945, Serial No. 628,569

4- Claims.

This invention relates to an improved garmen-t and particularly to playsuits and like garm'en-ts suitable for sports or other active wear, pajamas orlounge garments, or apparel for gen- 'eral beach wear.

It is a main object of the invention to provide a garment having a combination of blouse and shorts or slacks, or blouse and skirt, in which the blouseand lower portions are integral with each other, a novel belt portion providing a highly decorative rufiled front at the waistline and 'permitting the same garment to cover a range of sizes without sacrifice of appearance. ft is another object of theinvention to provide a garment combining integral upper and lower portions, with an improved belt construction creating the illusion of a separate blouse and shorts or skirt.

'It is a furtherobject of the invention to provide,.in a garment such as a skirt, shorts, or slacks intended for wear with a blouse or skirt, an improved waistband to which the blouse or shirt may be buttoned or otherwise removably attached.

It is yet another object of the invention to provide a garment having shorts or slacks-provided with an improved, concealed bloomer'leg or cuff which prevents undue exposure of the body of the-wearer while-engaged in active sports.

It is a still further object of the inventionto provide an improved method of manufacturing ,playsuits or like garmentshav-ing a blouse and shorts, said method reducingthe number of separately cut and sewed pieces and therefore resulting-in a substantialsaving in labor. costsas against similar 'garmentsmade' by the conventional method.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an im-proved-playsuit or the like, --particularly for femininewear, in which a concealed cuff makes possible theuse of flaringor wide-legged shorts while preventing exposure ofthe body-or undergarments of the-wearer.

In conventional construction of garments embodying a blouse and skirt portion or. a-blouse .and shorts portion, it is usual to formtheblouse of four pieces of material, and the shorts, for eX- ample, ofat least four more pieces, the respective pieces being sewed together by overlapping or turned seams. Each of -the -respective-pieces requires individual cuttingtreatment and must be -stitched-together into the completed garment. A large proportion ,of the-labor cost .of such a garment is .;accounted for in 1 the many stitching and seamine-np rations required.

time and correspondingly reducingythe cost of the completed garment. Each seam requires about one inch of cloth, sothe reduction inthe number of seams, and. the elimination of ,sep. arate belt facing, effects asu bstantifll .savingin material cost.

Pursuant to one embodiment of the inllfil fiQn the blouse and shorts. or bl use and skirt. are made ofiour pieces of "fabric, cut ,to hattemso that,whenstitchedtosetherthe blo se andlowe portions are substantially in final 'form, the blouse requiring onlytheinsetting of leeves and collar. .At the waistline, the material is folded in a reverse fold. Alonethe lowe mostmersi ip ..su0h,f01d, a line of .stitchinsnasses th ou the r thicknes es. of mater a ism Par l e her t a s tably a ove said owe most m r i a secondlinepf stitchin passes throughthe twp outermost folds. There is thus provided apassaeethrough w ch a d aws in o ibb nm be run, to b tied eith r-a h ron ,o t rea of Y the .,w.ai. t pon t eins he d aw tr n the upper portion of the bel are as ume -en he tractive ruffle whi h add ma e i ll .11 th app a an o h ea m n wh a the ,s met m shapin the arment ab ut t wais lof h wearer.

The impro ed wai tb n co t u tion may. als be embodied in separate slacks, shorts, orskirt, with which a b ou or ir ma b w mother fe re an a vant O t inventionwill be evident from he detailed description of the invention which follows.

.I the a compan in d w n s:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a garment embodys h es nt. invsntiqn e d e ii s q ipii ing a combined blouse and shorts;

Fig. -2- isarear View ,of the same; Fig-.3 .is a section taken onthe-linesj iof .Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 isa plan w w or one, ,of the two identitheblouse and the shorts;

ing the reverse fold at the waistline of the slacks, with the lower portion of the shirt buttoned;

thereto;

Fig. 9 is a section taken on lines 99 of Fig; 7, showing my improved concealed cuff; and r 4 half of the complete back, whereas the panel 34 forms half of the complete front. At 35, a slit is provided to facilitate the attachment of the sleeve to the armhole. The two pieces are sewn together along the full length of their respective outer margins 36, and along the length of the outer margin 31, commencing at the point 38, which is immediately below the facing portion 0. The seams resulting [from the stitching as aforesaid are the front and rear central vertical seams M, 42, the dot-dash line 33 representing the fold line which provides the outer side marginal edges of the garment. Fig. 6 shows the lower portions 43, 43, which collectively form .the concealed cuff I6 when this feature is provided in the completed garment.

Fig. 10 is a front view of a skirt having the waistband construction of Fig. 8.

Referring to the drawings, the garment shown in Fig. 1 comprises a blouse portion l0 and a shorts portion 12, said portions being of integral material; in other words, there isno seam uniting the blouse. and shorts portion. The waistline is defined by a belt portion l4, through which runs a drawstring, belt or the like it: as later explained.

Figs. 1 and 2 show the garment as provided with an integral inner or concealed cuff lB,'one of said cuffs being exposed to show its relationship to the leg of the garment, although it is to be understood that the said o'uifs are normally worn inverted, as indicated in dot-dash lines in Fig. 1 to conceal the cuff from view.

As later appears, the body of the garment may be formed from either two or four pieces of material. When the garment as shown in Fig. 1 is formed from four pieces of material, two identical pieces form the back of the garment and two identical pieces provide the front. Fig. 4 shows one of the back forming pieces, as the same comes from the bench of'the cutter. There is an upper back section I! and a. lower back section I8, respectively, for the blouse and shorts. When the concealed cuff is to be embodied in the garment, the lower section l8 has an extension which forms one half portion of the said cufi. It is understood that two identically shaped pieces of material, when sewed together along the edge 2|, form the complete back portion of the garment.

I The front panels, of which one is shown in Fig. 5, comprise an upper section 22 and a shorts section 23 the saidshorts section similarly having the cuff extension 24 to cooperate with extension 20 of Fig. 4. Each front panel has a facing portion 25, which, in the completed garment, is folded along the dotted line 26 and lies at the inside of the finished garment. The illustrated armhole cutouts and neck configuration may be as desired.

The two front-forming pieces are sewed together along the marginal edge 29, said edge commencing at 30, at the upper waistline area. The assembled front and rear panel sections are stitched together along their common marginal edges 3|. Sleeves and collar pieces are inset and sewed as is conventional in the art.-

The garment shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may also be made with but two pieces of material; Fig. 6 shows one of the two identical pieces of cloth which when sewn together along their outermost edges, provide the complete blouse and shorts portion of the garment. In Fig. 6, the panel 32 to the left of the dot-dash line 33 forms In Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the lines 44, 45 are fold lines along which the material is folded to provide my improved waistline construction. To aid in the location of said fold lines, marks such as the holes 46, are provided. After the respective garment portions are stitched together as aforesaid, the garment is folded in a reverse fold as shown inFig. 3, wherein the line 45 forms the free upper edge of the belt portion, and the line, 4 3 forms the concealed lower margin of the belt area. The material is stitched through three folds along the line 48 and through two folds along the respective lines 49. Said lines of stitching providea tunnel or passage through which the drawstring 15 is run. The. fold lines and stitching lines of Fig. 6 are identical with those of 4 and 5. q

It is noted from Fig. 3 that there is no seam at the innerbelt portion of the garment, as is required in the conventional garment of this type; in other words, the material in my improved garment is smooth right down to the line of stitching at 48. Accordingly, it is unnecesary to provide a separate inner facing strip to finish oif the waistline.

The belt or drawstring emerges from the waistband at the holes 50, see Fig. '7, said holes being disposed about one and one half inches on each side of the front central seam. Figs. 4 and 6 show the position of the holes 56 with respect to said seam. H 7

To provide the concealed cuif, the leg portions of the garment are folded inwardly along line 5| and stitched together along the overlapping lines 52. A hem is provided at 53 to provide for the running of elastic or other suitable material so that the cuff will resiliently engage the thigh of the wearer.

As appears from Figs. l and 3, the unsecured upper marginal edge 43 of the beltportion gives the appearance of a garment consisting of a separate blouse tucked into the belt line of the shorts, skirt, or other lower garment portion. When the drawstring is tightened about the waist of the at the waist, and the body-conforming lines resulting from the drawstring or belt.

The concealed cuif portion may be omitted, if

desired; it would, of course, be omitted where a skirt or'slacksformed the lower part of the garment, rather than the illustrated shorts.

Figs. '7 and show slacks and a skirt, respectively, in which the reverse fold at the waistline forms the ruflied front effect and provides an inner belt portion to which a blouse may be buttoned or secured by snap fasteners or the like.

Fig. 7 shows a garment comprising slacks 60 and a conventional blouse 6|. As shown in Fig. 8, the waistband of the slacks has the reverse fold construction providing a tunnel for the drawstring 62 and the milled top line 63. The inner free waistband 64 is preferably provided with a plurality of buttonholes to accommodate buttons 55 on the lower margin of the blouse, although it will be understood that the inner waistband may have the buttons and the blouse formed with the buttonholes.

As shown in Fig. 9, the cuff of the slacks extends inwardly and upwardly and there may be provided knitted or elastic-cuif 66 which, see Fig. 7, embraces the ankle of the wearer and is thus particularly suitable for skating, skiing, or gardening. In lieu of the elastic cuif, it will be understood that the slacks may be provided with an elastic band such as is illustrated with respect to Fig. 3.

Fig. 10 illustrates a skirt having the waistband construction shown in Fig. 8; with the skirt any blouse or sweater may be worn, it being understood that it is not necessary to secure the blouse or the like to the waistband as previously described,

Although the invention has been described by making a fully detailed reference to the certain presently preferred embodiments, such detail of description is to be understood in an instructive rather than a limiting sense, many changes being possible within the scope of the claims hereto annexed.

I claim:

1. A garment comprising a blouse portion and a trousers portion integral therewith, the area of demarcation between said blouse and trousers portions comprising an integral triple fold of material; a line of stitching extending circumferentially about the garment through said triple fold; a second line of stitching extending circumferentlally about the garment above the firstnamed stitching and passing through only two of said three folds of material at a location substantially beneath the upper margin of said triple fold; and concealed drawstring means within the portion defined by said first and second named lines of stitching.

2. A garment for external Wear, having a. waistband portion integral with the material of the garment and comprising the said material folded on itself to provide a relatively wide circumference strip having three thicknesses, the lower margin of said strip being stitched circumferentially around the garment through said three thicknesses, and said strip also being stitched circumferentially around the garment through the outer two thicknesses and immediately above the first-named stitching to provide narrow drawstring passage disposed well beneath the upper edge of said strip.

3. A garment having integral blouse and lower portions, comprising elongate strips of material united along their vertical marginal edges to provide a blouse portion and a lower portion for the garment, said united panels of material having a reverse fold at the waistline of the garment to provide a relatively wide circumferential strip comprising three layers of material, the uppermost edge of said strip being visible when the garment is worn; a circumferential line of stitching passing through said three layers of material at the lowermost edge thereof; a second circumferential line of stitching disposed above the firstnamed line but substantially beneath the upper edge of said strip, said second line. passing through the outermost layer and through at least one of the other layers to provide a horizontal passage for the accommodation of a drawstring; the free upper edge of said circumferential strip giving the visual effect, when the garment is worn, of a separate blouse portion tucked beneath the lower portion of the garment.

4. A garment for external wear, comprising two elongate strips of material united along their vertical marginal edges and at their upper transverse edges to provide a blouse portion and a lower portion for the garment, the vertical seams resulting from the joinder of said strips of material being at the center of the back and front of the garment respectively; said strips of material being shaped intermediate their vertical margins to form armscyes, and said strips having a slit extending downwardly from the base of each a-rmscye portion to permit the attachment of a sleeve thereto.

MURRAY KAY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of, this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Vernon Dec. 18, 1906 Sprague May 5, 1908 Schneider Sept. 15, 1908 Wheeler Mar. 30, 1937 Leary July 20, 1943 Berry Sept. 9, 192a 

